Sudhir Rama Murthy, Thayla Tavares Sousa-Zomer, Tim Minshall, Chander Velu, Nikolai Kazantsev and Duncan McFarlane
Advancements in responsive manufacturing have been supporting companies over the last few decades. However, manufacturers now operate in a context of continuous uncertainty. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Advancements in responsive manufacturing have been supporting companies over the last few decades. However, manufacturers now operate in a context of continuous uncertainty. This research paper explores a mechanism where companies can “elastically” provision and deprovision their production capacity, to enable them in coping with repeated disruptions. Such a mechanism is facilitated by the imitability and substitutability of production resources.
Design/methodology/approach
An inductive study was conducted using Gioia methodology for this theory generation research. Respondents from 20 UK manufacturing companies across multiple industrial sectors reflected on their experience during COVID-19. Resource-based view and resource dependence theory were employed to analyse the manufacturers' use of internal and external production resources.
Findings
The study identifies elastic responses at four operational levels: production-line, factory, company and supply chain. Elastic responses that imposed variable-costs were particularly well-suited for coping with unforeseen disruptions. Further, the imitability and substitutability of manufacturers helped others produce alternate goods during the crisis.
Originality/value
While uniqueness of production capability helps manufacturers sustain competitive advantage against competitors during stable operations, imitability and substitutability are beneficial during a crisis. Successful manufacturing companies need to combine these two approaches to respond effectively to repeated disruptions in a context of ongoing uncertainties. The theoretical contribution is in characterising responsive manufacturing in terms of resource heterogeneity and resource homogeneity, with elastic resourcing as the underlying mechanism.
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Chander Velu and Mahima Khanna
The study aims to provide insights into the changing nature and dynamics of business model innovation in India over the last decade.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to provide insights into the changing nature and dynamics of business model innovation in India over the last decade.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a unique hand‐collected data set of 95 observations that mentioned business model innovation in India in the financial press between 2001 and 2008. The study analyses business model innovation trends across industries, firm types and newness of innovation.
Findings
First, with time the percentage share of business model innovations by new entrants has been increasing. Second, new entrants increasingly attempt efficiency improvements while targeting novel ways of meeting customer needs, whilst incumbents predominantly adopt efficiency‐based business models. Third, over the period of the authors' study, there was a clear shift in business model innovation away from IT‐related industries towards consumer goods, media and financial services. Fourth, new entrants introduced new‐to‐industry, whereas incumbents introduced new‐to‐firm innovations. Fifth, novelty‐centred business models of new entrants and incumbents were predominantly new‐to‐firm; but efficiency‐centred business models of new entrants and incumbents were new‐to‐firm and new‐to‐industry, respectively. Sixth, over time, novelty‐centred business model designs adopted by firms changed from being new‐to‐industry to new‐to‐firm type, whilst efficiency‐centred business model designs remained relatively unchanged.
Originality/value
Business model innovation is increasingly becoming a priority for firms globally in order to create competitive advantage, but little is known about the nature and dynamics of such type of innovation in India. The study analyses how business model innovation in India has evolved between 2001 and 2008. The study draws policy implications to stimulate and sustain business model innovation in India.
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The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a bibliometric analysis of the evolution and structure of business model research in industrial marketing scholarship…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a bibliometric analysis of the evolution and structure of business model research in industrial marketing scholarship during the period between 2011 and 2020 and to discuss potential directions for future empirical research.
Design/methodology/approach
Bibliometric methodologies are deployed to objectively evaluate the business model research that has made the most impact within industrial marketing scholarship as well as the prominent scholars and key topics driving the discipline at points in time.
Findings
The findings demonstrate the formative but increasing engagement that industrial marketing scholarship has had with business model literature and the limited but increasing degree that business models have influenced industrial marketing literature. Potential directions for the empirical development of business model literature are argued to lie in the areas of collaboration and coopetition by examining the notion of value within the relationships, interactions and/or networks evidenced in European seaports business models.
Research limitations/implications
Bibliometric analysis is retrospective in nature so developments in the literature appear only after some time has elapsed. Different keyword selection when formulating search strings for sampling may have brought some deviations in the analysis.
Originality/value
Research that investigates the link between business models and industrial marketing is still scarce. This paper is among the few that analyze objectively the evolution and structure of business model literature in industrial marketing scholarship from a longitudinal perspective with a particular emphasis on the period between 2011 and 2020.